Dive Brief:

• The Obama administration is making an adjustment to its formula for calculating student loan default rates — a move that will help some colleges avoid penalties.
• For schools in danger of losing their federal student aid, the U.S. Department of Education will exclude some defaulted loans from the default rate calculation, Inside Higher Ed reported.
• This is the first year that penalties are based on three-year student loan default rates instead of two-year default rates — a change designed by Congress to make colleges more accountable for defaults.

Dive Insight:

The number of colleges helped out by the so-called adjustment is not known. Community colleges and historically black colleges and universities had sought relief from the strict new standards, and the Department of Education announced that no historically black institutions would be penalized for default rates this year. Community college advocates praised the move, but Department of Ed critics panned it, calling into question accountability.